Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American-British actor best known for her role in the long-running series The X-Files.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Anderson had an unorthodox upbringing. Raised by a mother who was a computer scientist and a father who owned a film post-production company, she grew up between London, England, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, in a household she described as having been influenced by Buddhism. Anderson took an interest in and studied both film and theater as a young person, and also considered pursuing a career in archaeology and marine biology.
Ultimately, she moved to New York City around 1989 as a 22-year-old and worked as a waitress while trying to break into acting. She earned several stage roles and won the 1990–91 Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer. In 1992, Anderson moved to Los Angeles to transition to the screen, landing a role in her first full-length movie, The Turning. Though once opposed to television acting, the opportunity presented itself and she seized it, making a guest appearance on the Fox college drama Class of ‘96 in 1993. It was this one-episode part that opened the door to one of the most iconic roles in American television.
Anderson received a copy of the script for the pilot of The X-Files and, after auditioning, got the lead role of FBI special agent Dana Scully alongside David Duchovny as special agent Fox Mulder. The Fox network wanted an actress with more sex appeal and TV experience than Anderson, but producer Chris Carter was adamant that Anderson was the right fit. The rest is history. The series became a smash hit and a cultural phenomenon, running from 1993 to 2002 and again from 2016–2018, and spawning the films The X Files and The X Files: I Want to Believe, both of which Anderson starred in. The series earned 61 Primetime Emmy Awards and 15 wins, along with 12 Golden Globe nominations and five wins.
Anderson has also had a prolific and storied career outside of The X-Files. Anderson co-starred in the BBC crime drama series The Fall, the Netflix comedy-drama Sex Education, and portrayed British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the acclaimed Netflix drama The Crown, as well as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in the 2022 Showtime series The First Lady. To date, Anderson has over 70 screen acting credits to her name, and her work has earned her two Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe awards, among many others. Her cultural status has also made her a popular entertainment personality with over 150 television and media appearances as herself.
Away from the lights, Anderson has been active in supporting charities and humanitarian organizations, including working with the Neurofibromatosis Network and co-founding South African Youth Education for Sustainability (SAYes). In recognition of her career and contributions, Anderson was appointed an honorary Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2016.
In 2012, Anderson opened up about a past romantic relationship she had with a woman:
It was the first time I revealed this fact in a public forum, and I chose to do so for two reasons. One was that a woman whom I was in a relationship with had died a few months beforehand and I felt, in the context of our conversation, it was safe and appropriate to bring it up. Many years beforehand, and well beyond our time together, this woman had called me out of the blue at the height of my television fame to say that she had been offered $60,000 by a tabloid to provide a picture of us together. At the time, for various reasons, not including shame, I did not want that information in the public domain and even though she was struggling to pay her rent, I asked her not to sell our story. She took what at the time I considered to be the high road. To this day I regret asking her to do that. That 60 grand would have had a greater positive effect on her life than a negative effect on mine. By discussing our relationship in Out, I felt like I was honoring her memory in some way simply by admitting its existence.
She went on to say:
A seemingly straight-laced almost middle aged woman with three children can be open and shame-free about her life and love experiences and it’s okay.
In 2015 when asked if she would be interested in having a same-sex relationship again, she told The Telegraph,
I wouldn’t discount it, I did it before and I’m not closed to that idea. To me a relationship is about loving another human being; their gender is irrelevant.
Similarly, in 2018, she told an interviewer,
I could be with a woman next year […] It’s just who I am.
In a 2024 interview with The New Yorker, she mused,
Now, at the age of fifty-five, I am thinking, Oh, am I pansexual? Am I bisexual?
At the end of the day, Anderson chose not to adopt any labels because she worried that it would be seen as claiming an identity she didn’t truly qualify for. But her relationship history and state sexual and romantic attractions make it clear: Gillian Anderson is bisexual, even if she doesn’t feel comfortable using the label.